I've been lurking and reading and studying all of the incredible work that you artists have been posting for a while. You've all been an inspiration to me and a kick in the ass to get started carving.

I've finally screwed up the courage to post my tiki carving attempts. These two are my first tries at creating tiki. Actually they're my first tries at carving anything. As much as I read the trials and tribulations of others' work, there's no substitute for good old fashioned trial and error...

So anyway, here's the one that started everything. I began him first, but during the (way too long) time that it took me to finish, I carved the Moai that's in the next post. So I guess he's not technically my first tiki, but he sure feels that way to me.

He started life, as many tiki do, as a lowly log

Then he got stripped of his thin bark and had a design drawn on him

Much hacking was done with crappy cheap tools. Sometimes I think it would have been easier to gnaw through it with my teeth. An older wood-handled Buck Bros 3/4" did an ok job of holding an edge, but my 1/4" acrylic-handled BB chisel made life miserable. Little did I know that that stupid chisel was going to prolong my future sanding time by a factor of at least five.

I'll skip pictures of the tedium of sanding, staining, and sealing and just post shots of the finished product. It took waaaaaaaaayyyyyy more hours than I care to admit, but I'm pretty proud of it. I also picked up a set of Marples Record chisels that the previous owner had well taken care of and used the 'scary sharp' process on. I used them on the last 5% or so if this carve and it was like night and day compared to the original chisels.

So there ya have it. We had a couple of palm trees taken down and I had them leave several 6 - 8 foot lengths. I'm now about a third of the way through a two foot full-body carve. Pics coming soon.

Thanks again to everyone that's posted their work and tips here - those posts have been much inspiration.

And now shots of the Moai. He's only about 5" tall, carved from a piece of redwood or cedar (can't remember which) that I cut off the end of a piece of Home Depot stock that had been sitting in my remnants pile for a while. He was done with a Warren Cutlery hook knife - thanks for the suggestion on that knife, whoever it was (Benzart?). Inexpensive and sharp as all hell.

Rough cut

Side view of rough cut

Sanded and stained

And finished

His name ended up being Mo, and he was immediately adopted by my wife who took him to work to display on her desk. Apparently the folks there like him a lot.

Thanks for all the kind words and encouragement, folks, I really appreciate it.

A couple of answers to your questions:

4WDtiki - The first one is Palo Verde that had been drying in my backyard for about a year. Apparently this is the hardest substance in the known universe. I'll likely use it as a carving knife when I try carving tikis out of diamond. The grain is so tight that sometimes it was hard to tell what was grain and what were scratches - the lightness of the wood's color didn't help that either.

amate - Next up is my first try at a full body tiki. Here are some in-process shots:

...and then on to my backlog:

Get it? BackLOG? Ahhhahahahaha...I'll be here all week. Try the veal.

Not sure how much carving I'll get done this weekend. It's supposed to be between 117 and 120 degrees for the next couple of days. I may just grab one of my scuba tanks and my regulator and sit at the bottom of the pool.

Most full-bodied Tikis, with their grimacing faces and big teeth, look like they got kicked in the balls or are trying to take a massive dump, so you've caught that quality perfectly. He's even in a "pants around his ankles" pose.